THE COMPANY
Pomps Not Dead (PND) is a well-known grooming brand in the pomade world. The company was founded by Edwin Carson out of Houston, Texas and contains all hand brewed grooming products. The pomades are infamous for their classy and classic labels, their great scents and slickness.
POMADE IN THE SPOTLIGHT
Pomade I’m going to highlight is lardage, a firm oil based pomade. This is the heavier version of his bacon grease light hold. You can read that info on the lid as well. There are not that many reviews of Lardage, so here is mine!
Lardage comes in a 4 oz (113 g) tin with stickers as labels. There’s no info such as directions, ingredients or information on the brand. The pomade is light yellow.
More info: https://www.etsy.com/nl/shop/PompsNotDeadPOMADE
INGREDIENTS
Petrolatum, microwax, beeswax, castor oil, fragrance.
As we are accustomed to PND the ingredients list is succinct and includes a few waxes, oil and fragrance. I like PND’s classic approach. All their pomades radiate that real grease/lard(age) vibe.
SCENT
Vanilla-bacon. The vanilla is most noticeable and is accompanied by a smokey note to mimic sort of bacon scent. I do dig it. Smells strong in the tin but not overbearing in my opinion. In the mane it’s not overpowering at all, it’s less tart as I expected. I caught whiffs now and then, that was it.
STYLING PROCESS
My hair: medium thick, wavy, somewhat unruly hair of medium length. Wear a contour.
My styling equipment: boar hair brush, Denman brush, detangler (Tangle teezer), and Bixby comb. Use brushes most.
Application: on damp hair as usual as it relaxes my waves and eases styling. 3 average licks were worked into the mop.
Scooping out: comes right out of the tin, no trouble.
Breakdown: feels thick, wavy and creamy. I suggest you don’t use too big amounts at a time because of that waxiness and stickiness; it will leave wax residue on your hands and that does not come in handy to work with. Lardage breaks down rather quick into a creamy, sticky, not dry and not greasy substance.
Working in: there’s resistance from the kick-off. It won’t rip out hairs but it is grippy. Spreading: not the easiest nor the hardest to distribute evenly.
Slicking back: my Denman brush went through with some resistance. You can create a really tight slick black with it. It’s clear this is heavy and heavy in the wax compartment. I did recomb with my Bixby comb and was surprised this went rather comfortable. Combing to the side to make a part: you get tension again. Part was easy to do.
Control: as I already told, Lardage contains a lot of wax. Therefore, the hair followed the strokes of the brushes very well. Thereafter, it fought back a bit: had to recomb a few times to keep the bangs against my head. If there’s a big quantity of wax, my hair starts to pop up, especially in the cowlick areas. After it had settled, this was a thing of the past. Lardage slicked down well my sides and my front got good height. No waves showing through. Did I have to struggle with strays? No. It is slick enough to keep these away plus the stickiness helps.
SHINE
Low sheen. That didn’t go away. Nice luster in the sun.
HOLD
Edwin describes it as a firm hold. I experienced this more to be a heavy hold.
ENDURANCE
Circumstances I was in: 52 °F (11° C), a bit of sun and wind, no humidity, no strenuous activity. My hair did retain good shape: there was some sagging with minor waving. Lardage provides me with great hold, but I don’t need that much for I have medium thick hair. In comparison to other PND firms I used, this is the heaviest. It’s about the same as firmage but heavier than The daily grind and Close quarters combing (Gauge). Latter works best for me. This is an ideal pomade for people with unruly, thick, wavy/curly hair and great for the summer.
RESTYLING
No problem for it’s oil (wax) based. Combing through: no tug and pull. Lardage preserved its great hold and yes, I obtained even better results comparing it to the initial styling. After a while it looked less clean.
BUILD UP
Build up for me is adding some water and tonic, then a few scoops of pomade. I’m not the ‘every day I wash my mop type’. Build up is waxy and not greasy. I mostly top with a medium the next days. For the review I reused Lardage. What were my experiences? It worked well! It was not that hard to work with as I expected. My hair obeyed much quicker than the day before! Better results, much cleaner and styled must faster. It really shines in the build up department. But because of the heaviness I don’t get the desired shape with it.
WASH OUT
About 4 showers with shampoo. All depending on your hair type, build up and shampoo. This is a grease so don’t expect it to come out easily. PND never comes out easy for me. After I rinsed, my hair felt soft and healthy.
SIMILAR POMADE(S)
- Pomps not dead, firmage.
- Reuzel pink.
Interested in oil based pomades only? You can join our ‘Oil Based Pomade Enthusiasts’ Facebook group – https://www.facebook.com/groups/OilBasedPomadeEnthusiasts/
POMADE IN WORDS 